Deprivation of Liberty

[Linda_1503]

Hi all

Anyone had any experience with deprivation of Liberty. Mums moved downstairs in a bed with bed guards and the care company have advised they need to notify Social Services regarding the D of L
Mum lives at home with me still and we have carers to help get her up in the morning.
Yes the rails stop mum getting out of bed as she has Parkinson's dementia and is blind but it's for her own safety. She is aware enough though that if she needs the loo to call me and I come and help

Just seems a bit OTT especially as the Ocupational therapist would have assessed mums needs to see if she needed the bed in the first place ?

Many thanks

[bowlingbun]

I wouldn't worry about this, if the bed was ordered by the OT, then the OT and Social Services can talk it through. Sounds like the agency are just being super careful.

[Linda_1503]

Hi - that's what I thought but just don't want mum spooked too much as the OT was a bit heavy handed when they came to originally assess her....they asked how she would feel about being enclosed in the bed with the rails up. Being blind it scared the life out of her and she refused to use it to start with.
We are at that almost calm bedtime routine...we have a few tears and the don't leave me on my own complaints but I rigged up a baby monitor so I can talk to her from my room. Now it's become like the end scene from the ruddy Waltons....GOODNIGHT MUMMA....GOODNIGHT JOHN BOY....lol
Don't want SS rocking the boat again if I can help it

Many thanks x

[bowlingbun]

No, if it works for you, just, now, this could end up being the tipping point. Make sure SSD understand this, if neccessary. Better to be at home with bedrails than in residential, where she will still need bed rails. I found after major abdominal surgery that they made it so much easier to sit up, that I asked for one side to be left up for me, and I was only 54 at the time!

[jenny lucas]

Legally, if she is presumed still to have mental capacity, then equally, if she simply says 'I want the bed rails' (or, I don't mind them) that should satisfy that they are HER choice, not imposed on her?????

I think the baby monitor 'good night' is a lovely idea!

[Greta]

I wouldn't worry either. Some time last year the question of deprivation of liberty was raised, I've forgotten the details, but I heard of more than one case where social workers and hospitals were being over-anxious. They want to show that they considered everything in case they are blamed and taken to court in future. I think it's a kind of box-ticking exercise for them.

(The daughter of a friend of mine has advanced MS and can neither walk nor talk, the front door was locked at night for family safety, and her mother was asked whether the daughter would want to leave the house if she could, because if so she was being deprived of liberty - nothing ever came of it but presumably the social worker could then cover her own back).

[Sally_17031]

This sounds a bit OTT to me. My Dad is subject to a Deprivation of Liberty order (or whatever it is called) as he is in a hospital against his will. He lacks mental capacity and has to be there as there is no one who can care for home at home. My understanding is that the Deprivation of Liberty order is for those held against their will and is sort of a protection to those "holding" him as it shows that due process has been followed in making this decision, so that it is not going to end up in court. Personal liberty is a pretty fundamental human right, so to deny it is a pretty big offense, unless it is in the patients best interest. To register the DoL, care assessment had to be done and a mental capacity and best interest meetings held, which came to this conclusion. To have a bed rail on your Mum's bed just seems like common sense, not a deprivation of her freedom???

[jenny lucas]

My MIL with advanced dementia is subject to DOL because she kept trying to escape from her care home. She 'wandered out' from two, and got 'expelled' from both because of that, on an understandable concern for her safety.

She is now in a 'secure unit' in a third home, where it requires a code to make the lift go upstairs, or the stair gate to open, or the external door to unlock. Presumably, if she were 'compos mentis' she could remember the code (I do, when I visit!), so in a way, the fact that she can't remember the code is 'proof' that she has no mental capacity, and is unable to understand the risks to her of wandering out into the road, etc etc.

It can be very distressing - as in, they really can't understand WHY they can't wander off (the poor soul was trying to 'get back to me' because she didn't want to be in the home), but obviously they HAVE to be safeguarded, and don't know why.